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Numbers
Numbers in Old English: Cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers: Basic table Numbers, cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers, in Englisc are set out below. The numbers 1-3 however are declined like adjectives and their forms by gender and case are set out in separate tables below. The basic table has the nominative forms only. Ordinal numbers are all declined like adjectives, as set out in a later table. Million and billion There is no word for "million" found in Old English. However: *The Homilies contain Þusend ðusenda. (Cleasby and Vigfusson quote exactly that construction, þúsund þúsunda, in an Old Norse homiliu-bók.) *1½ million appears in Orosius in the phrase "Ðæt wæron fieftiene hund þusend monna". In fact, the same sentence in the Homilies contains "million" and "billion" (well, an American billion: 1000,000,000): :Micel getel is ðæra haligra gasta, þe on Godes rice eardiað, be ðam cwæð se witega Daniel, "'Þusend ðusenda''' ðenodon þam Heofonlican Wealdende, and ten ðusend siðan hundfealde ðusenda him mid wunodon."'' :"Many are counted of the holy ghosts, who inhabit God's kingdom, by whom spoke Daniel the prophet, "A thousand thousand served the Heavenly Lord, and ten thousand times a hundredfold thousands dwelt with him" Halves Something-and-a-half is expressed with the ordinal of the next number: *1 ½ = oþer healf *2½ = þridde healf *9½ = teoþe healf Also with larger numbers: *350 may be feorþe healf hund 1 An is declined in a strong form. A weak form is available and usually means "alone". Strong declension Weak declension 1st Forma appears only in a weak declension. Another word for "first" is ærrst (literally "earliest"). 2 2nd Oþer (second), alone amongst the ordinal numbers, is always declined as a strong adjective: Singular: both Begen (both) is declined exactly like twegen, of which it is a variant, and of course it is always plural: 3 3rd Other ordinal numbers Teoþa and all the ordinals from þridde upward, declines as a weak adjective and so is our example here: Singular: Declining numbers above 3 Generally Generally numbers above 3 are undeclined. However if a number stands alone, as a pronoun ("there were five them") then it may take endings like a feminine plural noun. Those ending ''-tig'' are sometimes declined as neuter adjectives, but usually undeclined. Hundred and thousand Hund and þusend are effectively neuter nouns, usually left undeclined but they may be declined like other neuter nouns. They take the genitive, so "a hundred men" would be "a hundred of men": hund wera. Writing numbers Latin numberals were used by in the Anglo-Saxon period, though not quite in the classical version of the system: *The letters are written lower case (and as there is no independent letter v'', the Latin ''V is written u') *Subtraction by putting ''I to the left is not used (so 4 is '''iiij, not iu) *The last i'' is written with a tail; a ''j in form, although the letter j''' had not yet arisen as a letter distinct from '''i. Therefore: *i = 1 *ij = 2 *iij = 3 *iiij = 4 *u = 5 *uj = 6 *uij = 7 *uiij = 8 *uiiij = 9 *x = 10 *l = 50 *c = 100 *d = 500 *m = 1,000 Amongst revivalists, Arabic numerals are used, which is very practical and quite acceptable in that context. (Arabic numbers were introduced to Europe by mediaeval trade and the Norman reconquest of Sicily. One could argue that late Old English was still being spoken as Arabic numerals were first used by Christians.) Category:Language